The Silent Humber

Humber was ‘the’ pioneer make in British motorcycling, after Thomas Humber began producing some of the earliest commercially available bicycles from 1868 onwards at his Beeston works, just outside Nottingham.

In 1884, Thomas made the first modern-type diamond-framed bicycle, before opening a larger factory further south in Coventry, closer to the suppliers of metal tubing. At the 1896 Horseless Carriages Exhibition in London, Humber unveiled what is recognised today as the first genuinely practical motorcycle ever built in Great Britain, powered by a 2hp motor designed by expat American engineer Edward Pennington.

That same year, Humber & Co Ltd began assembling its first prototype four-wheeled conveyance, which generated a run of nine identical vehicles – the first series production motor cars to be manufactured in Britain – with Tom Humber’s choice of location duly ensuring that Coventry became the capital of the future British motor car industry.

In 1898, the company also displayed some degree of foresight by constructing a powered tandem driven by a battery-powered electric motor. Although short-lived commercially, this proved successful when used for pacing on cycle racing tracks; while on July 10, 1899, Bert Yates won a race at the Coventry cycle track on his internal combustion-engined Humber in what is claimed to be the first motorcycle race ever held on a racetrack, as opposed to the then increasingly commonplace point-to-point racing.

After acquiring licences to use engines supplied by Minerva, De Dion and Phelon & Moore (P&M), by 1902 Humber had become a serious contender in the field of powered transport, whose robust, good-selling two-wheeled models proved their worth to the public at shows and in trials. The company also continued to manufacture the high-quality bicycles for which it was renowned, and by counting the